Autonomy only means to save LGs from paralysis — Shehu Sani

A social critic, Sen. Shehu Sani, says local government autonomy is the only way to strengthen governance at the grassroots and save council areas from paralysis.

Sani, who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th National Assembly, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday

Recall that the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice recently filed a suit at the Supreme Court against state governments, seeking the enforcement of full autonomy of the local governments in Nigeria.

In the suit marked: SC/CV/343/2024, the Federal Government urged the court to issue an order prohibiting state governors from embarking on unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders.

The government urged the court to issue an order permitting funds standing in the credits of local governments to be directly channelled to them from the Federation Account in line with the provisions of the Constitution as against the alleged unlawful joint accounts created by governors.

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The 36 governors were sued through their respective Attorneys General.

Sani in his reaction to the development said the step by the federal government had the potential to restore growth at the grassroots and strengthen the local government system.

“Local Government autonomy is the only way to save the LGs from bankruptcy and paralysis.

“Poverty and insecurity in the country are rooted in the destruction of the local government system,” Sani said.

According to him, most council chairmen only go to their offices when federal allocations are released.

He said the lack of financial and administrative autonomy for the local government had affected the performance of the third tier of government.

Speaking further, Sani described FG’s proposal that State Electoral Commissions (SIECs) should be scrapped as a good move, saying scrapping SEICs would deepen democracy at the grassroots.

“The scrapping of SIECs is a step in the right direction.

“It has become impossible for opposition parties to win elections at the LG level because of the institutional rigging and imposition of candidates by state governors,” he said.